Concordia made a statement in one of its final two games of 2022, knocking off nationally ranked Aurora 4-1.
The Cobbers defeated the 10th-ranked team in the DCU/USCHO NCAA Division III men’s poll to notch their biggest win of the season.
Special teams made the difference. Concordia scored twice on the power play tallied a shorthanded goal and did not allow the Spartans to cash in on any of their six power play opportunities on their way to their third consecutive victory.
Four different players scored, including Bend Luedtke, who opened the game with a goal in the second minute.
Joe Harguindeguy put the Cobbers up for good early in the second period. It was his fourth goal of the season.
Caden Triggs and Liam Haslam added goals off the power play during a five-minute span in the third to seal the deal. Haslam also had an assist in the win.
The Cobbers managed a 37-28 advantage in shots while Aaron Dickstein made 27 saves for his third win of the year.
Concordia finished out the series Saturday against Aurora and lost by a 3-2 score. Derrick Budz scored the game winner 50 seconds into the third period. Jack Jaunich tallied two assists.
Concordia is 5-5-1 on the season. Aurora goes into 2023 with a 10-3-2 record.
Bulldogs win holiday tournament
Adrian surges into 2023 as the winners of Oswego State Hockey Classic. The third-ranked Bulldogs claimed the title with a 3-2 win over the ninth-ranked Lakers on Saturday in a battle of two of the nation’s best teams.
The Bulldogs trailed 2-0 before rallying for the win, thanks in part to Ty Enns, who helped spark a comeback with back-to-back goals in the second period.
Sam Ruffin capped the rally with three minutes to play, scoring the game winner as the Bulldogs improved to 9-2-1. Dershahn Stewart made 30 saves, including 12 in the third period to help Adrian seal the deal on the win.
Nick Tallarico made 19 saves in Friday’s 3-1 win over Williams in the tourney opener. John Kalijan, Austin Clyne and Ruffin all scored to lead Adrian to the victory. Adrian goes into 2023 riding a four-game winning streak.
Four for the Sabres
Marian won its fourth UW-Superior Showdown championship over the weekend, beating Gustavus 5-3 for the crown. Three unanswered goals in the third period sealed the deal for the Sabres.
Jaymes Knee led the way, turning in a hat trick to pace Marian. He scored two of those goals in the final period of play.
Marian held a 33-28 advantage in shots over the Gusties on its way to improve to 5-8 on the season.
Jack Sampson and Daunte Fortner played a pivotal role in the win, dishing out four assists apiece. The duo assisted on all three of Marian’s third-period goals.
Marian came into the tournament on a six-game losing streak and looking to get into the win column for the first time in more than a month.
It broke the streak Friday with a 2-1 win over St. Scholastica behind 24 saves from Colby Muise. He made 10 of those saves in the final two periods. Sampson scored the game-winning goal to close out the first period. It was his fourth of the year and gave Marian its first win since Nov. 18.
Gusties stun Yellowjackets
Gustavus won its second game of the season Friday, knocking of UW-Superior in the opening round of the UW-Superior Showdown.
Gustavus went on to fall to Marian in the championship game the next day.
In Friday’s game, Dylan Gast tied things up in the second period with his second goal of the season at the 13:33 mark. Jac Triemert then made the score 2-1 in favor of Gustavus with less than two minutes to play in the period.
Nate Stone’s goal with just over two minutes to play in the game sealed the deal for Gustavus, which improved to 2-8-1 with the win. Gustavus won despite being outshot 27-16. Jackson Hjelle made 26 saves.
Hallford’s hat trick leads Trine
Garrett Hallford came through with a hat trick to help Trine take down Hamilton 7-4 in its final game of 2022.
Hallford also tallied an assist in Saturday’s game as the Thunder won their fourth consecutive game.
Trine scored three goals in the opening period to take control and Cristian Wong-Ramos came up with 15 saves in the win. The Thunder are now 8-5-1 on the year, scoring four more goals in each of their games during their current streak.
Brendan Prappas paced Trine in Friday’s 4-2 victory, scoring a goal and dishing out an assist. The Thunder held a 39-15 advantage in shots.
Green Knights top Vikings
Fifth-ranked St. Norbert wrapped up 2022 with a 3-1 win over Lawrence on Saturday. Liam Fraser scored his 10th goal of the season in the win while Michael McChesney scored twice for the Green Knights. McChesney now has 11 goals on the year and helped St. Norbert push its record to 9-3-1.
Ben Schmidling added two assists and Fraser tallied an assist to go along with his goal on a night when St. Norbert took 35 shots.
Johnny Roberts and Colby Entz split time in goal, with Roberts working nearly the first 30 minutes and tallying 10 saves. Entz added 13 saves in a little over 30 minutes of work.
